Pima Air Museum Tucson

Funny how plans change. We were going to be heading north today but watching the weather we decided to stay here in Amado until tomorrow. That storm from California will be traveling through northern Arizona and Las Vegas on Thursday, so we don't want to be in that mess.
Hard to believe there will be rain in the desert. I am suffering from the dryness here in AZ. My nose won''t quit running and I have a doozy of a sinus headache. I want to stuff wet sponge bits in my nose to breathe. I know TMI.
So today to keep busy we headed to the Best Buy on the south western edge of Tucson to check out getting a new GPS. I wanted a Garmin as I liked our old one. We wanted to be sure to get North America maps - they include Canada, US AND Mexico. We also found one with a almost 7" screen. Only problem was that store didn't have one in stock. So the clerk called another store in the kind of north east corner of Tucson. They had one, so we paid for it and had to drive there to pick it up. But how to get there without a GPS. Surprisingly enough I managed to get the directions up on my phone. First time I've ever managed to do that. The store was 18 miles away and a convoluted path to get there. But hey, we made it. Believe it or not this was the easiest way to get there. Not as much traffic and lights. 

We had  planned on going to the Saguaro National Park West because we were kind of in the area. But because we ended up clear on the other side of town we went to the Pima Air Museum instead. Every time we'd stayed here we talked about going there. So finally made it. So glad we did. Lots and lots of planes parked out in the desert. 

 One area most of the planes were wrecks. 

 Entrance to the museum

 Going inside. There is a discount for Seniors. We didn't take any of the tours, but plan to next time we are here. 

No commentary necessary. 

And this is my most favorite airplane. The first time I ever got up close to one was years ago when our oldest son was working at Edwards Air Force Base in California. We were visiting him there and a Blackbird was sitting outside one of the hangers. WOW It is so big and so impressive.

 The next time I saw one it was flying over the San Fernando Valley - Its last flight from Lockheed's Burbank air field. 

 Then Bill and I saw one in Hutchinson Kansas at the air museum. You can just feel its power and might. 

A water landing plane.

The next few pictures have a personal meaning to me. These were some of the first pressure suits worn by jet pilots. Notice the tubes running down the sides of the arms and legs. Air was pumped into the tubes which compressed the arms and legs to keep the bodies blood from pooling in the lower extremities. 

 A better look at the tubes on the legs. My father was a WWII veteran. In the early 1960's he developed a nerve disease - when he stood up all the blood would drop and he would pass out. The VA hospital worked with the air force to modify one of these suits so my father could wear it. He only had the bottom half, the tubes were connected at the waist. He had a hand pump that he would use to pump up the tubes on the legs before he stood up. That kept his blood pressure up so he could function. Worked pretty good, looked pretty strange. 

 Mean looking.

We were only 1/4 of the way through the museum at this point. 

But I'm going to stop here for now. 
Tomorrow I'll try to add more pictures. But we will be at a new closer to home stop.